DENVER— Fourth-year Maverick Halle Romero fought off five match points to win the dual-clinching team point in a 4-3 Colorado Mesa University women's tennis victory over long-time conference rival MSU Denver on Saturday at here at the Assembly Athletic Complex.  Romero also teamed with Makenna Livingston for a pair of No. 1 doubles victories during a 3-0 day as the Mavericks went on to dominate NCAA Division III Colorado College by a 9-0 score later in the day at Memorial Park in Colorado Springs.
 
The Saturday sweep allowed the Mavericks to improve to 9-10 on the season as they got past the Roadrunners for the first time in 15 duals and since 2016 in the long-standing in-state rivalry that has spanned their time in two different conferences.
 
MSU Denver fell to 10-6 but rallied for a later 7-0 home win over CSU Pueblo.
 
The Mavs' victory over CC (3-6) was their 15th straight in the NCAA inter-divisional, in-state rivalry.

Romero, a redshirt junior from Corpus Christi, Texas teamed with Livingston for a 6-2 doubles win over MSU Denver's Isabel Heras and Kinsey Fields, ranked 27^th in the ITA's NCAA Division II national doubles rankings.  The Mavs also received a 6-3 No. 2 doubles win from Issy Coman and Macy Richards to take the doubles point and the early lead.
 
The Mavs then won three of the first four singles matches to be decided as Richards, Coman and Romero all claimed key wins to lift the Mavericks to the win over the Roadrunners, who came into the weekend three spots ahead of them in the Pacific West Conference rankings.  MSU Denver was slotted seventh while CMU was ranked tenth.
 
Romero's victory was the most impressive as she fought off the match points to win her No. 4 third-set tiebreaker over Hanna Haber, 10-8.  Romero also took the first set, 7-5 but dropped the second by a 6-1 margin.
 
Meanwhile, Richards was a 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 winner over Fields at No. 3 singles while Coman won first and second tie-breakers by 11-9 and 7-4 margins in a thrilling win at No. 2 singles over Marie Cool.
 
Heras was the first victor for the Roadrunners, coming back for a 0-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over Livingston at No. 1 singles.  Lilly Stienemeier then won 6-1, 6-1 at No. 5 singles in the second wave of matches before Kambra Roles out-lasted CMU's Paige Furin, 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-8) in the final match of the dual at No. 6 singles.
 
The Mavericks then hopped on the bus and traveled south to Colorado Springs, where the Tigers were awaiting.
 
CMU got off to a good start against the Tigers winning all three officials doubles matches by 8-6, 8-2 and 8-1 scores to take a 3-0 team lead.
 
Livingston and Romero, who won 8-6 over Magdalene Gonzales and Maddy Meister then took the rest of the evening off as Kristen Thomas and Delia Maier joined the singles lineup after winning an 8-5 exhibition doubles match.
 
The Mavs were just as dominant in singles winning all six affairs, five of them in straight sets. 
 
The Tigers won four games in just one of ten sets in those straight-set matches.
 
Coman was the biggest winner, taking down Lindsay Popeo by a 6-2, 6-1 scoreline in the top flight.  Richards was also a comfortable 6-3, 6-2 winner over Gonzales at No. 2 before Maier put the Mavs up 6-0 with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Meister in the sixth flight.
 
The Mavs continued to roll as Julianna Campos won 6-2, 6-4 over Elizabeth Girian at No. 3 singles before Thomas finished off a 6-3, 6-3 win over Malia Rivera in the fifth flight.
 
Meanwhile, Furin dropped her opening set to Gigi Jensen at No. 4 singles but rallied for a 2-6, 7-6 (7-2), 1-0 (10-5) victory in the final and closest match of the night.
 
The Mavericks have now won three straight duals for the first time this season and will look to continue their momentum on Sunday morning against former Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference rival CSU Pueblo.  That dual is slated for a 10:30 a.m. start at the Pueblo City Park Tennis Complex.